Brandy in a Wine Glass
by SmallFriWriter
Summary: What is 16 year old Madigan Recchi hiding from the students at Eden Hall? Why is she different than the rest?
1. Thunder

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1 Chapter 1: Thunder  
  
  
  
Madigan Recchi stood in front of a desk, looking at a heavy-set woman, who had brown hair, gray streaks, and tired eyes.  
  
"May I help you?" asked the lady, sealing a small envelope with one quick lick of her tongue.  
  
"I….uh, I'm Madigan Recchi."  
  
The secretary lifted her head quickly, but had to think of the correct words to speak. "Well Madigan, why don't I have a young lady show you around and get you familiar with Eden?"  
  
"Okay," she nodded, still straight-faced. She hadn't smiled in so long. Really, she had no reason to, but that was another story.  
  
"This is Julie," she smiled as a tall girl with long blonde hair and pale blue eyes came in, "She's your roommate and she'll show you around. Why don't you two take your bags to your room and get familiar? I believe the dean has already showed you to your classes, but today you're not even scheduled for classes, so it shouldn't even matter." As the lady chuckled, Madigan noticed a smear of dark maroon lipstick dabbed across her two front teeth.  
  
"So, Madigan," Julie smiled after the two put away her bags and were walking outside, "Why did your family decide to move here? Did it have to do with jobs, or did you get a scholarship? Nobody knows why you're here, and, well, we get pretty curious, especially my friends."  
  
Instantly, Madigan felt ill. "I really don't want to talk about it. It's pretty personal."  
  
"Uh….okay."  
  
Julie and Madigan continued walking for quite some long time before Madigan finally asked to be alone. Julie left, looking confused, thinking she had said or done something terribly wrong to offend Madigan. Madigan walked the shore of the lake, sitting on the hot grass, as a flock of ducks settled on the crisp water.  
  
"Hey there," said a voice, "Are you Julie's new roommate?"  
  
She turned around, looking up to see an attractive young man, whose eyes sparkled in the glow of the golden sun. "Yeah. I'm Madigan."  
  
"Well, hi. I'm Charlie Conway. Mind if I sit down?"  
  
"Actually, I'd like to be…Yeah, go ahead."  
  
Charlie smiled and sat next to her, immediately noticing how her perfume floated to him. She was wearing a cute top and tight jeans, her dark hair pulled up neatly. She then took her hair down, shaking it with her hands, fluffing it in a way, and letting long black strands of silky smooth hair fall against her back.  
  
"Wow," Charlie whispered in awe. "You look really beautiful."  
  
Madigan whipped her head around and snapped, "What?"  
  
"I said you looked beautiful. Was that the wrong thing to say?"  
  
"To me it was. Look, uh, Charlie, I'm not here by choice, alright? I'm not here to date. I am here to study, and I can't do that with people like you hitting on me." She jumped up, hurrying towards the school.  
  
"Hey, wait!" he called, "What was that for?"  
  
Madigan went to her room, finding that Julie was gone, plopped down on her bed, and cried into her pillow. 


	2. Awkward

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1 Chapter 2: Awkward  
  
  
  
After a long nap, sixteen-year-old Madigan felt slightly better. All day, she had stayed tucked away from everyone, and watched T.V., not really paying attention, waiting for Julie to come back from class. Finally, she did, carrying a rose.  
  
"This is from Charlie," she grinned, "He said he's sorry for driving you away earlier. Sometimes he has a tendency to scare people off of the face of the planet."  
  
Madigan took the flower slowly, looking out the window blankly, feeling warm tears form in her eyes, "Thanks."  
  
"Hey, why so glum? Don't you like Charlie? He came and told me how upset he was for making you leave, and he really likes you."  
  
"I…uh, I don't know if I like him or not. He seems nice and all, but I really don't want to move to fast."  
  
"So what am I supposed to tell him?"  
  
"About what?"  
  
"About you. Do you want me to tell him like how you reacted, or to tell him thanks but no thanks, or what?"  
  
Madigan hesitated, "You know what? I want to talk to him by myself. Do you know where his room is?"  
  
Julie laughed. "Of course, it's right down the hall, but he's in the rink, skating off his thoughts. You going now?"  
  
"Yeah. I'll be back later, okay?"  
  
"I bet you will. Have fun."  
  
If only Julie knew.  
  
~V~ ~V~ ~V~ ~V~ ~V~ ~V~ ~V~  
  
Madigan entered the rink with caution, almost afraid that she would be sucked into the darkness surrounding her. From the side, she saw Charlie shooting pucks into a net furiously, as a goalie talked to him, both unaware that she was present.  
  
"So, uh, Charlie, man," he said, blocking pucks, "What exactly did she say to you?"  
  
Charlie shot hard and the puck swooshed past the goalie, directly into the net. "Goldberg, I was rejected. Nobody's ever rejected me like that. She basically said that she hated my guts and she wanted nothing to do with me, or with any other guys at all."  
  
"Charlie," Madigan spoke, walking around, into his view, "Can I talk to you?"  
  
Goldberg skated away from the net. "I'll see you around, Conway."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Hi Madigan," smiled Goldberg as he trudged past her.  
  
She didn't smile. "Hi."  
  
Charlie took a deep breath and skated over to her, "Hi. I didn't think you'd want to see me again."  
  
"Why would you think that?"  
  
"Well, earlier was some kind of hint, huh?"  
  
Madigan shook her head. "No, I didn't mean to be so rude. I've just had a lot of stuff going on lately, and well, a lot of guys hit on me, and…" she drifted off, "Sorry."  
  
"Apology accepted," Charlie grinned, "So, I take it as you got my apology to you?"  
  
"Yeah, thanks."  
  
"No problem. So, uh, where'd you move from?"  
  
Madigan shifted uncomfortably and didn't speak, but instead, started to feel tears run from her eyes.  
  
"Oh my gosh," Charlie gasped, horrified, "I'm sorry, Madigan. I didn't mean to make you cry. Oh no, please don't cry. I didn't mean to."  
  
"You didn't do it. Geez," she sighed, wiping away the wetness, just to feel more. "My parents. They….well, I'm here because my parents died last week in a car accident. My aunt lives here, so she has custody of me now."  
  
She looked down at the ground and glanced back up at Charlie, who stood speechless. He had no idea. In fact, nobody knew.  
  
Feeling awkward, she asked, "You think I'm just some messed up girl now, don't you? That's why I didn't want to get attracted to you. You're thinking about how stupid I'll make you look. I don't even know why I let you get to me."  
  
"But Madigan," he protested, confused, "Woah."  
  
"No," she sobbed, "My whole life has been nothing but trouble, with everything from death to anything else, and now I have to worry about a relationship that I'm not sure of. How do I know that you're not just being some jerk trying to use me?"  
  
Charlie couldn't help but to laugh a bit. "Use you? I just met you, Madigan. I was just trying to ask you out, not asking you to marry me or anything, so it's not like you're making a huge commitment. And you know, just for the record, I don't want anything from you that you're not giving away, alright?"  
  
She sighed, realizing how much she flipped out. "I'm sorry for doing that."  
  
"Don't worry about it. I can see why you would be stressed out. So can we try it all over?"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
He smiled. "I'm Charlie. I'm sixteen years old, drive a junker, live six rooms down from you, like to listen to music, love to play hockey, and my new hobby is looking at you. I really like you."  
  
She blushed madly, pressing hair from her eyes. "I'm Madigan Recchi, I'm sixteen, I don't like to drive, I love to dance, and I think I like you, too."  
  
"You think?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Oh, alright. So, what would you say if I asked you out to a movie tonight?"  
  
"I'd probably say 'yes'."  
  
"Good. So, can I pick you up at, uh, oh boy, seven?"  
  
"Sounds great, Charlie."  
  
"Like always," he joked, "So, do you skate?"  
  
"Oh yeah."  
  
"Really? Like skate by yourself or holding onto someone?"  
  
Madigan laughed for the first time in so long. "Oh, I can skate pretty well. I used to play a little bit of hockey where I lived before."  
  
Perking up, Charlie answered excitedly, "Really? Maybe you should join the team here."  
  
"Oh, well, I don't know about that."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I should really get back to my room. I've got a bunch of unpacking left."  
  
It was very obvious that she was attempting to avoid the topic. In fact, she felt pathetic and embarrassed, hiding from him.  
  
"Okay. Well, I'll see you later, right?"  
  
"Yes. So, I'd better go, and uh, do whatever I said I had to do." 


	3. Exception

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1 Chapter 3: Exception  
  
  
  
Charlie had spent twenty minutes calming his nerves, unaware that Madigan never could settle her's.  
  
"Madigan, do you want to uh, drive or maybe walk?"  
  
She knew what he meant, and was glad he asked because she hadn't been in any car except her aunt's since her parent's crash. It was a paranoia feeling. "It's a nice night," she smiled, "Let's walk."  
  
Somehow Charlie knew she would answer that way. "Great. It's not too far."  
  
The two walked for a few minutes, talking about the little things, such as music, clothes, and whatever else.  
  
"So," Charlie said curiously, "What's the deal with hockey?"  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Not to be rude, but you were kind of uptight when I asked you to join the team."  
  
"Do we have to talk about this?" she sighed, walking next to him, just a block from the movie theater.  
  
"You don't have to do anything, but I'd like to talk about it. If you don't want to, whatever. It's fine."  
  
"My knee."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I started dancing when I was four, and I loved it. When I was fifteen, I got accepted into the ABA, which is one of the biggest ballet academies in the United States. A few days after I turned sixteen, I fell and found out that I tore a ligament. My parents spent a lot of money paying for surgery, and it worked, too. My parents were out of town and I started to feel pain, so I went to the doctor, just incase. I mean, it could've been anything. I just got scared. Anyways, my doctor called my parents, they tried to hurry, and got hit by a drunk driver. It was my fault, okay?"  
  
Charlie felt sick, "Oh God. I shouldn't have --."  
  
"No, you were going to hear somehow. People talk. People gossip."  
  
He took her hand in his, "Not me." 


End file.
